Notes by Laurie Ullmann: The "Chicago Road", an old Indian path and pioneer road from Detroit to Chicago passed through St. Joseph County, named after the St. Joseph River. This was a time of great activity and industry in the area, and James's father was fully involved as a merchant, land owner and public servant.
At age 21 he married 17 year-old Rosie Helen Hovey of Niles, Michigan. Shortly before their marriage James moved to Chicago as indicated by a letter he wrote to Rosie on Sept. 28, 1854 in which he stated ..."I am going to Chicago to live...How do you like the idea of living in Chicago?". His address was care of I.H.Burch and Co., a Chicago bank.
In a letter written in 1905 by James’s son Albert Isaac (Ike) to his brother Herb after visiting Niles he says about his mother: "I could imagine her as the young bride who passed through the door of Trinity Church fifty years ago..... I imagined as I went about the town how she and Auntie Mc as girls had been through these same streets together" (apparently Rosie had grown up in Niles, then moved to Racine and then returned to Niles).